SCOTTSBURG, Ind. —

A southern Indiana man is back in the United States after a stroke left him stranded in Mexico for days, and his family is thanking the community for helping make it happen.

Ray Rice, the owner of I-105.3, a country radio station in Scottsburg, is now in McAllen, Texas. His daughter, Amy Nichols, confirmed the update on Wednesday afternoon.

Nichols said that she was able to make it down to McAllen Tuesday night and that Rice squeezed her hand.

She said they didn't get good news Wednesday, but did not elaborate. Nichols said that they are just grateful that Rice is back in the U.S.

"We are incredibly grateful, and God is good," she said in a text message.

Rice had been stranded in Mexico since last Friday when he suffered a stroke.

Rice was on a cruise with his girlfriend when he became infected with COVID-19, had a stroke and contracted pneumonia. When the ship docked in Playa del Carmen, Rice was taken by ambulance to a hospital five hours away.

Due to Rice being uninsured, Nichols said the hospital required the family to pay $3,000 upfront to begin treatment, and the charges have been piling on ever since. At last check, it was at $24,000 and climbing.

Rice's girlfriend also had COVID-19 and was quarantined at the same hospital.

The options to get Rice back home wouldn't be cheap either. Nichols said that to get Rice to Florida, it would have cost them $25,000.

Since Rice is uninsured, Nichols said that one hospital in Florida told them it would need a $250,000 deposit for them to accept him.

Nichols started a GoFundMe, and on Wednesday afternoon, it had raised $28,500 to help out with Rice's expenses.

On Wednesday, she thanks the southern Indiana community for helping him get back to the country.

A highly-anticipated Alzheimer's treatment is expected to become available this month. However, experts warn that accessibility will likely be a problem.

Lecanemab is the first treatment that appears to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. It's only for people in the early stages of cognitive decline.

Lecanemab is an infusion given every two weeks. It's estimated to cost $25,000 a year.

Those not wealthy or those not in clinical trials are expected to be left out.

"Another barrier to access stems from the fact Lecanemab is on accelerated FDA approval," said Dr. Michael Weiner.

He expects the FDA to announce whether the drug gets full approval later this year. If it is fully approved, the Center for Medicare Services will decide whether to cover it.

Once a drug is approved for Medicare, some insurance will pay for it and it is available through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"I think those of us in the field, who see these patients and know what's going on and see the effects of this treatment, think that this treatment should definitely be available to the population, and we ought to try to find a way to pay for i.," Weiner said.

In clinical trials, the drug has been shown to slow cognitive decline by about 25%. Weiner said that could mean six to nine months of independence for patients and caregivers.

Senator John Fetterman’s candid approach to his struggles with mental health is unusual on Capitol Hill, where issues with members’ health are frequently kept hidden from the public.

But Fetterman’s openness has led to praise from mental health advocates, fellow members of Congress, and President Joe Biden, who said in a tweet, "We’re grateful to you for leading by example." 

Such mental health struggles in politics are not new — but they’re not mentioned often.  

In 1972, U.S. Sen. Thomas Eagleton was forced to bow out as the vice presidential pick for Democratic nominee George McGovern after his mental health struggles became public.

And in 2007, then-Congressman Patrick Kennedy opened up on Larry King live about his struggles with mental health.   

After a late-night car crash on Capitol Hill, the Rhode Island Democrat pled guilty in 2006 to charges of driving under the influence of prescription drugs.  

Since departing Congress, he founded the Kennedy Forum, which he describes as a think tank focused on mental health and addiction policy. 

"I think Senator Fetterman, simply by checking himself in saying he needs help and going to get that help, is going to probably help more people in that single act than any other bill that he sponsors or acts that he passes in Congress this year for sure," Kennedy said last week. "When I did go to treatment, I went under the cover of darkness, I did not do what Senator Fetterman has done, and that is to be very public about going to treatment. When I did go publicly, it was because I was forced to go publicly, I had had a DWI."

Fetterman suffered a stroke during his Senate campaign last year. His office said he has experienced depression on and off throughout his life but it became more severe recently.   

Mental health experts say his transparency about his struggles is an important signal to those dealing with similar issues. They say depression following a stroke isn’t unusual. 

 "We know that up to a third of people who have a stroke will suffer depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in people who have had a stroke. So I think for him to be so public about it is so courageous and he's been courageous up until this point, and he continues to do so," said Dr. Daniel Bober, a psychiatrist. 

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico says his health is improving after suffering a stroke.

Lujan, a Democrat, posted a video on social media with two of the doctors who have been treating him.

"I'm doing well. I'm strong. I'm on the road to recovery and I'm going to make a full recovery. I'm going to walk out of here. I'm going to beat this," Lujan said.

Lujan suffered a stroke in the cerebellum and underwent surgery to ease swelling.

Once the senator leaves UNM Hospital in Albuquerque, he said he will go to a rehabilitation center to continue the recovery process.

With the Senate split 50-50, there was some concern about whether Lujan would be able to vote for Biden's eventual Supreme Court nominee. Lujan said he expects to be back in Washington in time to consider the nominee.

The 49-year-old is a first-term senator. He was elected in 2020 after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.

OMAHA, Neb. —

A Nebraska family is urging people to get the flu shot as their daughter continues to fight for her life after getting the virus two years ago.

The young mother has been unresponsive and is now in long-term care.

Her family said it all started with a flu diagnosis.

This family said their daughter's life may have been different if she'd have gotten her flu shot.

“She got her CT scan yesterday. So, it's not worse, but it's not better,” said Vicky Bookout, Crystal’s mom.

Hospital beds have been the reality for Crystal Velasquez after a flu diagnosis two years ago.

“Crystal is at Madonna now. And she was on a vent, but now she's on the extended care. Where she'll be, I mean, the rest of her life,” Bookout said.

Now 38, her family said she's been in a mostly unresponsive state since 2019.

“It's even hard to go up there and see her but then it's harder to leave her,” Bookout said.

She's made some small improvements, they said.

“She laughs and she smiles now. And she didn't do that on the vent unit. But she's doing it now,” Bookout said.

But her life is vastly different than it was before.

A Seahawks football fan, lover of music and giving soul, Velasquez's family says she started to feel sick in early December 2019.

After getting medication for her influenza diagnosis, they say she was sent home.

Then, they say she went back for a chest X-ray, which revealed pneumonia, but was again sent home.

“She came by the house and said she couldn't breathe. And she was coughing. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't do anything,” Bookout said.

Her mom said she was rushed to the hospital and intubated. That shock to her body caused her to have a stroke.

Those moments would be some of the last her mom would have with her while conscious.

“She did tell me she didn't want to die because she just had a bad feeling that something was wrong,” Bookout said.

"You don’t ever think this is going to happen to your child, especially from the flu.”

Bookout said the recovery has been hard and she believes the flu shot could have helped.

They hope their daughter will continue to improve and want others to take every virus seriously and get vaccinated.

“I know people that don't believe in those shots, the flu shots, and that's up to them. And I have nothing against him for that. But I know it's not going to stop me,” Bookout said.

The cup of coffee or tea you reach for in the morning — OK, maybe it's a few — may be associated with a lower risk for stroke and dementia, according to a new study.

Among more than 360,000 participants studied over a period of 10 to 14 years, those who drank two to three cups of coffee, three to five cups of tea or a combination of four to six cups of coffee or tea a day had the lowest risk of stroke and dementia, according to researchers from Tianjin Medical University in Tianjin, China.

"Our findings suggested that moderate consumption of coffee and tea separately or in combination were associated with lower risk of stroke and dementia," the authors of the study said in a release.

Around the world, 10% of deaths are caused by stroke, according to a 2017 study published in The Lancet. Dementia refers to a general decline in brain function, but it can set in after a stroke.

Drinking coffee or tea alone also was associated with lower risk for both conditions, but people who had two to three cups of coffee and two to three cups of tea daily — four to six cups total — faired the best, with a 28% lower risk of dementia and 32% lower risk of stroke than those who didn't drink either, according to the study.

The participants' information came from the UK Biobank, a database of anonymous health information from around half a million volunteers in the United Kingdom gathered between 2006 and 2020. The study looked at health participants between ages 50 and 74 who self-reported their consumption of coffee and tea.

Over the course of the study period, 5,079 participants developed dementia and 10,053 experienced at least one stroke, according to the study, which was published in PLOS Medicine.

There have been many studies suggesting health benefits may be associated with drinking coffee and tea, but it is important to note that the researchers could only say the two were linked — not that the beverages necessarily offered protection.

There are limitations to the accuracy of the data because the participants reported their own tea and coffee drinking, and their estimates could be influenced by their own bias, Dr. Lee H. Schwamm, chair of the American Stroke Association Advisory Committee and chair in Vascular Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, said via email.

"We cannot impute causality, and say 'drinking more coffee or tea is good for your brain.' What we can only say is that in this study, people who reported moderate coffee/tea drinking were less likely to have a stroke or dementia occur in the 10 years of follow-up," Schwamm said.

Is it time to start drinking coffee?

Past research has suggested that coffee may be beneficial to brain health.

Another 2021 study that utilized the UK Biobank showed that for people with no diagnosis of heart disease, regular coffee consumption of 0.5 to three cups of coffee a day was associated with a decreased risk of death from heart disease, stroke and early death from any cause when compared to non-coffee drinkers.

Several studies have also shown that three cups of coffee a day can decrease the risk for Alzheimer's Disease.

Caffeinated coffee can help the brain in several ways by increasing production of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, according to the UK Alzheimer's Society. Called G-CSF, it helps protect and repair neural brain cells.

Neither decaffeinated coffee nor caffeine alone was shown to help in this way, "suggesting that there could be a combination effect between caffeine and an unknown compound in coffee," the society said.

More is not always better when it comes to coffee. People drinking more than 6 cups a day were at an increased risk of dementia and smaller total brain volumes, according to a study published in June in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience.

The results of the most recent study may point to some benefits of drinking coffee and tea, but that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone should start to brew more cups across the day.

"A word of caution, one man's cappuccino is another man's expresso," Schwamm said. "Not all coffee beverages have the same amount of caffeine, and people estimate a cup's worth of coffee or tea differently, so we should keep in mind that most things are best consumed in moderation."

If you avoided caffeinated beverages in the past, there may have been a good reason, and there isn't evidence yet that there is a benefit to starting a coffee or tea habit, he added. For most things, moderation is the best approach, Schwamm said.

"Enjoy your morning cup of coffee, and don't swear off additional cups if you enjoy them," he concluded.

Life for Peter Woullard and his wife, Patricia, was pretty normal a year ago.

"I was working in Mental Health at St. Joe's Hospital," said Peter. "I loved outdoors and loved to be around family and friends."

The New Orleans, Louisiana, native worked as a Behavioral Health Technician at St. Charles Parish Hospital.

When the pandemic hit, he became one of many who moved to the front line, putting himself at risk of being exposed to COVID-19.

"We never thought he'd actually test positive until he did on March 31, 2020," said Patricia.

Peter was working in the emergency room when he said he contracted the virus.

"I went to work that morning. I was feeling fine with a temperature of like, 96.7 or something like that," said Peter. "By 12 hours later, I had a temperature of 103."

Peter thought his symptoms would go away, but nine days later things got worse.

He was forced to go back to the hospital, but this time he wasn't clocking in.

He was fighting for his life.

"Within three hours that I got him there, they had to intubate. His kidney had already failed," said Patricia. "He had a bleed on his brain. He had dialysis. He coded six days later. So that's when the family was called in to come visit him because they didn't think he was gonna make it."

About two weeks after that Peter had a stroke, which made his recovery even more difficult.

"I have nerve damage from suffering from COVID and I'm not walking now and it's a year later," said Peter.

His wife said she was devastated.

"It was devastating to see my husband from a healthy man working to non-functional. And that was scary," said Patricia.

Peter spent five months in different medical facilities.

Finally, in September 2020, he came home to continue his recovery.

Fast forward to March 2021, the Woullard family finally stood tall for the first time in nearly a year as Peter took his first steps since contracting the virus.

"I'm like 6'3, almost 6'4. And just to just look over everything like I used to do, it was-- it was amazing," said Peter.

Peter has a long road ahead, but he and Patricia said their family is just grateful he is still here.

"I lose my breath easily now. And at one time, like I said, I enjoyed the outdoors and football and basketball and baseball and fishing on the lake front," said Peter. "And, you know, things like that, and just I'm grateful to be here by the grace of God."

Patricia says she is thankful God gave her a second chance with her husband.

"It's the blessing, it's the blessing," said Patricia.